Power to Perform
by WinglessCrows
Summary: "Yuri could have cried at the music choice. He could have cried tears of actual joy. Unless Viktor was playing an evil prank on him, Yuri would be skating his short program to his favorite rock song by his favorite artist." In the summer before the Olympic season, Viktor presents to Yuri a short program which end up being the cause of drama, fights, blood, sweat and tears.
1. Interpretation

**This is another side-story to The Real Podium Family with focus on Yurio and his preparations leading up to the Olympic season. The story can be read independently from the main story :)**

 **Yuri = Yuri P. & Yuuri = Yuuri K.**

* * *

Yuri was surprised that Viktor came up to him first and asked if Yuri wanted another program choreographed by him. Viktor was all smiles, when he so kindly offered, but since him and Yuuri had started dating, he had been easier to read. Yuri saw right through him.

"Katsudon put you up to this, didn't he?" He stated flatly and crossed his arms, calling Viktor out on his bullshit.

"No!" Viktor said too quickly, but then averted his gaze, clearly lying, "I mean, he told me that I technically didn't keep my promise, since _agape_ wasn't originally meant for you. Although!" Viktor injected quickly, turning his intense gaze back to Yuri who instinctively leaned a little backwards, "I did alter the program to fit you better!"

"Save you excuses," Yurio cut in, not wanting to listen to Viktor ramble on for hours, "Lilia is already working on a free skate, but I don't think I can handle two Lilia programs, so it would be _nice-_ " Yuri made sure to put as much bitterness in that word as he could, to not make it seem like he was too grateful for Viktor merely keeping his promise, "-if you could make my short program. It's only fair too," Yurio put his hands on his hips as he made the last statement.

"Of course!" Viktor beamed, resembling his poodle more than he should. Yuri rolled his eyes and walked away.

* * *

Yuri didn't really see Viktor after that conversation. He'd sometimes run into him at the rink, but since summer holiday had started and school was out, Yurio had begun to come to practice at the rink earlier and then spent his afternoon with Yuuri in the ballet studio. That meant that he usually shared ice time with Katsudon, and that Viktor was coaching during that time. Viktor would then take the ice as Yuri and Yuuri joined Lilia in the studio.

Since Lilia had yet to completely finish his free skate, Yuri only worked on parts of it in the studio, while his ice time was reserved for jump practice and skating skills. On Yakov's insistence, Yuri was working on his triple lutz, rather than on a new quad which he would much have preferred. This was because Yuri's tendency to flutz was even higher than Viktor's, and Yakov never approved of his students neglecting a bad jump, no matter the circumstances. And Yuri didn't like this. His natural jumping preferences lay with the edge jumps, and if he could substitute his triple lutz for a quad loop, he would be very happy. But Yuri had barely run the suggestion by Yakov before he had been shut down, and not even Yuri was suicidal enough to work on a new quad behind Yakov's back. He was smart enough to know he needed a coach.

But training with Yuuri made lutz practice easier. Yuri was a competitive person. He took pride in that, and he wasn't the only one working on his jumps. Despite having the confidence of a delicate flower, Viktor had somehow managed to convince Yuuri to add the quad lutz to his jump repertoire, and Yuri couldn't believe how often he had landed it already. He had been curious enough to ask about it.

"Your lutz is good," he had said quietly, not really wanting to compliment him too much. He didn't look at Katsudon as he had said it, but he looked up to see Yuuri smiling at him, a slightly surprised look on his face.

"I used to do lots of quads at practice in Detroit," he explained casually, "Thought that if I could land a quad lutz in practice, I would have the confidence to land the salchow in competition."

Yuri huffed, "And yet it still sucks."

"Well, not everyone can be as good with the salchow as you," Yuuri teased, and Yurio struggled with finding the right response without actually saying _thank you_ or _shut up_. There had to be a middle ground, but he couldn't find it and skated away. When he looked back he saw both Yuuri and Viktor snicker at the boards. Idiots.

But Yuuri's improvement and steady jumps helped motivate Yuri and his consistency was getting better. It wasn't quite as good as Viktor's lutz, which was more or less the benchmark Yuri had set for himself. He needed to do better than Viktor if he ever wanted Yakov to think about letting him try out new jumps. He knew that at the stage he was at, he could only win against Katsudon, if he made a mistake, while Yuri went clean. If he wanted to win against Yuuri, who not only had more difficult jumps and better PCS, but also stamina to perform difficult elements in the second half, Yuri needed a trump card. A technical trump card. Yuri wasn't blind to how Yuuri performed on ice, and whenever he went clean, Viktor's PCS was the only thing that could rival Yuuri's. So Yuri needed to improve. He didn't want to rely on other people's mistakes to win.

Yuuri had been working on his short program ever since him and Viktor got back from their little vacation in Hasetsu, and Yuri knew his layout. Triple axel in the first half. Quad flip-triple toe combination and quad toe, both in the second half. On paper, easier than last year, in actuality, much harder. Yuri had seen the step sequence, had seen Yuuri run it through a couple of times. The program was ridiculous. Yurio remembered the first time he had seen it. He had been in awe. Even though he had only performed triples during the program, Yuri had been blown away. He remember how he had felt the first time he had seen Viktor skate. It had been the same sensation. It made him want to do better. He wanted to jump better, have more complete programs, perform louder.

For his free skate, Yuri would be skating to Schindler's List. It had ultimately been Lilia's choice (even if she had first suggested Clair de Lune, which Yuri had promptly turned down), but Yuri was starting to come around to it. They were working on cooperating in the expressions he had learned and worked with in the previous season. Something ethereal like _agape_. Something passionate like _appassionato_. But while Yuri was slowly growing into the piece, he kind of missed Viktor's choreography.

Lilia and Viktor had two very different approaches to choreography. Lilia was strict in her teachings, always telling him what to do and what to express, leaving little room for Yuri to impact it, but still always playing to his strengths and hiding his weaknesses. Yuri wasn't good at controlling deep edges and sharp turns, but he could skate fast and confidently, so the step sequence would be upbeat and fast-paced. Yuri was a strong jumper, but often lacked stamina to perform jumps at the end of a program (at least of the standard he wanted and Yakov required), so he had his most troublesome jumps first, a cleverly choreographed breather in the middle of the program disguised by a spin, and a long and creative transition into his next jump.

But Viktor didn't make programs like that. No, Viktor loved to see his victims (yes, they were definitely victims) suffer and work through things they were not good at. _Agape_ had been a struggle like no other, but damn if Yuri hadn't come out stronger when he had conquered it. Viktor made challenging programs, but left room for artistic freedom and often required that his victims think for themselves. Yuri had realized only too late what the real challenge during _hot-springs on ice_ had been. They had been required to take Viktor's program and turn it into something else, to express themselves through it. Yuri had figured that out halfway through the grand prix series and he had missed Viktor's choreography ever since. He didn't have ambitions of becoming a choreographer, but he liked the impact he could have on a piece. He liked having the sketch of the program and then coloring it in himself. It was liberating.

* * *

It was a little over a week after Viktor had approached him about the short program that Yuri got a text from him.

 _-Study up :P_

The text was followed by a link to a youtube playlist, which contained ten or so skates. Yuri was sitting in his room at Lilia's house, playing around with Potya and connected the playlist to his tv for a better experience. Yuri actually groaned out loud when he saw what the first skate was.

 _-Why are you sending me Katsudon's programs? The only one who has seen this more times than me is you, because you are disgusting._

 _-Study or I won't give you a program :(_

Yuri groaned again and began the video. It was Yuuri's _eros_ program from when he had skated it clean at Four Continents. Yuri hated how good it was, and he could only imagine how it must have felt for Yuuri to still have lost to JJ in the end. Yuri stopped the video after the program was over, not needing to see the whole disgusting romantic display the idiots had put on just because the competition had taken place during valentine's. He moved onto the next program and groaned out loud again, Potya jumping out of his lap at the noise and turning to play with one his toys.

 _-I know all of these programs! Why am I watching Georgi's gross Romeo portrayal :ccc_

 _-There is a theme! I told you to study!_

 _-UGH!_

The short program set to Romeo and Juliet (Yuri's least favorite warhorse) was performed during the Sochi Olympics, and Georgi was no less dramatic than usual. Yuri remembered thinking that it had been weird that they hadn't named Georgi to the team competition, and had instead made Viktor skate in both the short and the free skate. All because he was their golden athlete. Honestly, he stole the spotlight from everyone else. He had even been the flag-bearer.

Yuri skipped the program after Georgi. Viktor was not going to make him watch JJ skate in his free time. Absolutely not. And _especially_ not that egocentric short program of his. The fourth program on the list was Leo's short program from the previous season, and the rest were Phichit's programs. Every. Single. One. Of. Them. From his entire Senior career.

And Yuri got it. He understood what Viktor wanted to show him with this, and he groaned in frustration as he replayed Phichit's programs a couple of more times, taking notes alongside it.

* * *

After ballet practice the next day, Yuuri invited him over for dinner, and Yuri gladly accepted. Since Lilia's studio was literally inside her house, Yuri took a couple of his things as well as Potya before they left for the love couple's apartment. Yuuri's company could be quite nice, at least Yuri could tolerate him a little longer than he could Viktor, only because Viktor sometimes got stupidly excited about stupid things - like his fiancé and some dumb irrelevant thing he had done. Honestly, Yuri had lost all faith in him the day Viktor had talked for thirty straight minutes about how Yuuri had this great technique for folding socks. Socks! Yuri had straight up ignored for a week after that.

But Viktor was better that evening, because they were talking about Yuri's short program and he had been waiting for this.

"What did you learn from the playlist I send you?" Viktor asked him, trying to put on a teacher facade. It would have worked if Yuri didn't know him as well as he did.

"Connecting with the audience creates a good atmosphere and positive results," Yuri said like a good student. There was a reason Viktor had spammed him Phichit's programs. Pandering to the audience was his specialty after all.

"Exactly, and why is it important if you want good scores?"

"First rule of competitive figure skating: The judges are the first row of the audience. It will boost PCS to connect well."

"Correct. I want you to remember that when I give you your music."

"Why can't I listen to it now?" Yuri demanded, "Wouldn't it be better to let me know what I'm skating to?"

"No," Viktor smiled mischievously, "I don't think you would be able to sleep."

Yuri's stomach dropped. He was almost scared of what Viktor had in store for him. He feared Clair de Lune, or worse, a Romeo and Juliet piece. He wouldn't be able to sleep if that was his music for sure.

* * *

It was incredibly early in the morning, when Viktor woke Yuri up and dragged him into the kitchen, placing him in a chair next to an equally dead Yuuri and forced the two of them to eat breakfast. That was another thing Yuri preferred about Katsudon. He was not a morning person, unlike his idiotic, bubbly and stupidly energetic fiancé, who should not have been this awake at five in the morning.

At six they were on the ice, going through some basic warm-up exercises, enjoying their alone time in the rink before the eight a.m. people began showing up. It was so early that even Yakov wasn't here yet. It made sense, of course, that Viktor would try to get them to the rink when there were no people - although Yuri didn't know exactly why Yuuri had to be there as well. Katsudon would probably have chosen sleep if he had been given a choice considering how tired he still looked. It was one of those moments where Yuri was sure that Yuuri must love Viktor a lot. Yuri would never have gotten out of bed to see someone else get their program.

"Are you ready?" Viktor asked. He was talking in Russian, which meant that Katsudon was not fully awake to follow a conversation even in English, so Yuri shot him a glance only to find him lazily spinning around in circles (not doing actual spins, but just, skating in a small circle).

"Hit me," Yuri said determined and Viktor hit play on the music.

Yuri could have cried at the music choice. He could have cried tears of actual joy. Unless Viktor was playing an evil prank on him (which was unlike at best), Yuri would be skating his short program to his favorite rock song by his favorite artist. Viktor's smug smile at Yuri's expression (which he himself couldn't quite tell what was, as he was both surprised, happy, in disbelief and actually floating on a cloud at the same time) told Yuri that this was definitely his music, and when Viktor stopped the song, he honestly had to stop himself from just dropping to his knees and thanking him for the wonderful music choice.

"I love it," he said instead, trying to control his non-smile smile, preserving the last percent of dignity he had left.

"Of course you do," Viktor said knowingly, and Yuri couldn't even think of a clever comeback, "But I am taking a risk with this music, so if I don't think you can handle it, I will change it."

Yuri's eyes widened: "No! I can do it!"

"Brave words from a little kitten who doesn't know what's about to happen."

Yuri just pouted, wanting Viktor to continue and actually walk him through the program.

"The key to this program will be performance," Viktor began his lecture, "When you skate, you tend to only think about yourself, but you can't do that with this program. You need to connect with the audience. Connect with the judges. Connect with the music. And most importantly, you need to make this program your own. The music by itself is exciting and well-known, which means that it can easily overpower you, take the focus away from _you._ You need to make this music your own. Can you do that?"

"Yes!"

Viktor huffed and smiled, almost looking down on him. It reminded Yuri of when him and Yuuri had first gotten their short programs last season and Viktor had more or less told them that the were average skaters at best. And Yuri realized that this morning, he wasn't dealing with the bubbly, heart-smile Viktor, but with sadistic demon coach Nikiforov. He would have to behave unless he wanted to be sent on another weird soul searching quest through temples and waterfalls.

Learning the basic choreography was easy enough. Yuri could do a pretty well runthrough of the program on day one, began to understand and implement the details on day two, and on day three they worked on small tweaks, which would change it from a Viktor program to a Yuri program. But of course, that was only the bare minimum for Viktor to be satisfied with him.

Day four was Viktor's rest day, where he was more or less banned from the rink, so Yuri went back to Yakov to work on jumps and whatever else his coach felt that he was horrible at that day.

"Yura," Yakov called sternly (when was he not?) and Yuri skated to the barrier, prepared to get all his flaws pointed out, and was surprised when that didn't happen, "What's your short program, Vitya isn't telling me anything."

Yuri raised an eyebrow. Viktor hadn't told him. It took him a second to figure out why, and he wondered if Yakov would believe him if he said he didn't know.

"Um," he started off intelligibly, "It's an old song, you probably wouldn't know it."

"I am older than you," Yakov pointed out, not in the mood for messing about (again, when was he ever?).

"Right," Yuri said, "But you're into the same stuff as Lilia, classical music, you know, this is more my style-"

"No." Yakov said horrified, "He didn't."

Well, at least Yakov was blaming Viktor and not Yuri. That was fantastic, but Yuri was slightly scared that he was about to lose the best piece of music he had ever skated to. He didn't even get to defend himself, before his coach stormed off, presumably about to literally storm into the love couple's apartment to yell at Viktor. Yuri would have loved to be there for it, but his blatant bias might work against him. He could have faith in Yuuri - who was hopefully also there - that he would rationally explain to Yakov that it was all _fine._

Yuri finished up practice at the rink a half an hour later, and didn't even bother to take off his skates as he plumped down on a bench to check his phone. There were a long string of messages from Yuuri.

 _Yakov's arrived. Took him longer than I expected._

 _You'd probably enjoy their fight._

The third message was a short clip of Viktor and Yakov. They were both yelling, trying to drown out the other. It was near impossible to tell what they were saying, but Yuri did catch his own name several times. Yuuri continued texting.

 _Ah. Yakov broke a vase. I'll make him replace it._

 _Damn. I think I just heard Viktor swear._

 _Add it to the list._

 _I wish I had some popcorn_

 _This is the best entertainment I've had in a while_

 _They stopped fighting when Makka barked at them._

 _There is no way this is over._

Knowing that Yakov would surely yell at him too, Yuri decided to go to Viktor and Yuuri's place after practice. They might be overbearing, but at least, in this argument, they were all on the same side. Yuri was also secretly hoping that Yuuri could give him more details about their fight, because it sure had sounded hilarious. It was always fun when Viktor was upset about something and started yelling about it.

* * *

It was only three days later that Yuri decided that Viktor yelling was not so fun anymore. There was plenty of tension between Viktor and Yakov already, as Viktor was as decisive about his own programs as Potya was about where to take a nap - meaning, Viktor seemed to change the whole thing every day and Yakov was already halfway to madness. The fact that Viktor then wouldn't budge at all when it came to Yuri's program just pushed Yakov over the edge and every damn day became an actual yelling match. It wouldn't have been so bad, if only Viktor didn't come to the rink at the same time as Yuri, but since he was coaching Katsudon, whom Yuri shared ice time with, it was impossible to escape. More often than not, Katsudon would take Yuri to Lilia's earlier than normal, as he too was getting tired of their bullshit.

* * *

It was on day five that Yuri asked Lilia for her opinion, hoping that maybe she could convince Yakov - or just intimidate him into letting Yurio do the short program. She was quite good at intimidating people.

"It doesn't complement the free skate I made for you," was Lilia's dismissive answer and Yuri felt his heart sink. So much for that plan, "You should have something more elegant. It's the olympic season, you can't just fool around like you did at the last season's Finals."

"A lot of my fans liked that program!" Yuri insisted, but she just scoffed, trying to close the topic and get back to the ballet practice.

"I think it's refreshing," Yuuri said from the other end of the studio, his leg resting on the wall, almost in a perfect split as he typed something on his phone - most likely discussing dinner plans with Viktor, "It's like in Black Swan. The eccentric wildness of the short program will highlight the more traditional beauty of the free skate. I think they go quite well together. And it will certainly grab people's attention."

"Grabbing people's attention doesn't mean that it's a beautiful piece," Lilia argued, "Most often, it's the ugly which people look at."

"But it's not an ugly program," Yuuri continued, looking up at Lilia, "It's fun, different, and certainly more refined that Yurio's gala performance at the Finals. I think you should give Viktor the benefit of the doubt. He's a good choreographer."

"He's used to choreographing for himself," Lilia pointed out.

"And yet the world records for the short program and free skate are set by me and Yurio with the help of Viktor's choreography. At least let Yurio skate the program before you judge it."

"Very well," Lilia gave in, "But I won't help you convince Yakov."

Yuri would have thanked Katsudon if she had ended up being of more help, but instead just showed that his split was the better of the two.

* * *

On day seven, Yuri took matters into his own hands. Yakov was yelling something about this being Viktor's 'last chance' and whatever that meant, and Yuri could not do with another day of practice where the music - which wasn't even his short program music - was being drowned out by two supposed adults yelling like they were children fighting over a toy.

"Let me skate to the program," Yuri said confidently, and Yakov just let out the most frustrated sigh Yuri had ever heard.

"It is not proper," Yakov said for the millionth time, "This type of program isn't fitting of someone who is one of the top skaters. I will let you skate it for an exhibition only."

There was something in Yuri that wanted to yell, but the whole point of him interfering was to stop the damn yelling, so he turned to another strategy.

"Please," he said and looked up at Yakov like Potya did when he wanted more food, "I've always wanted to do this kind of program, and I would be so happy if I could do it at the Olympics. I promise I will make it fitting of my standard."

Yuri caught a small victorious smile on Viktor's face, and Yakov looked at Yuri, trying to win the battle of wills, but eventually had to back down.

"Fine!" He caved and threw up his arms in defeat, "You have exactly one week to show me that this program is worth it. We'll have a showing next week, you against Katsuki, and if I feel that your program cannot compete, we're making it your exhibition."

"Yes! Thank you!" Yuri smiled widely, really wanting Yakov to feel bad if Yuri lost the program and ready to research how to make yourself cry in case Yakov was going to try and take it away from him. Not that it would be entirely necessary, Yuri was sure he would nail this. Yakov hadn't said that he needed to win against Yuuri, that would be unfair as Yuuri had had his program for much longer than he had. Yuri just needed to be competitive.

* * *

Yuri could honestly say that in his entire life, he had never been happier to skate, and he almost couldn't believe that it was happening under Viktor's tutelage. The first thing that struck Yuri about this program, when they had finally settled on a choreography (leave it to Viktor to have somehow tweaked the program in the one week he had been fighting with Yakov), was that it was fast paced all the way through. There were hardly any breaks and when there were, it wasn't more than a second where Yuri would do something to appeal to the audience. And though Yuri would collapse on the ice after almost every runthrough of the program, he loved every second of it.

The second thing Yuri noticed was that Viktor didn't pay a lot of attention to his jumps, and had somewhat weak transitions for both the combination and the solo quad toe in the beginning. While Yuri's strong point didn't lie in transitions, he felt that he was better than this, but Viktor kept dismissing him and urged him to just focus on the rest of the program. It made Yuri think that this wasn't the final jump layout, which made him curious as to what Viktor had in mind.

The third thing that hit Yuri was that he wasn't as good of a performer as he would have loved to be. He blamed it halfly on the fact that during run-throughs, his only real audience was Viktor who was picking everything he did apart, but Yuri found that every single night, he'd watch an endless amount of Phichit performances to figure out how on earth he made the audience go absolutely wild with just the flick of a wrist. Yuri always got the most applause when he landed successful jumps, but that wouldn't satisfy Viktor. No, Yuri needed to have the audience screaming whenever he looked at people in the stands, even if his back was turned to half of the audience.

* * *

The show-off between Yuri and Yuuri felt a lot like Hotsprings on Ice, except Yakov had made Mila join them to show off her new program (he wanted to see how well she could execute her triple axel in her short program under pressure - they had a standing agreement that if she didn't land it, she would only use it in her free skate). There was also the fact that Yuuri was much less nervous this time around, as there was nothing for him to win or lose, as far as Yuri was aware of.

They drew lots to determine the order and Yuri got stuck with the last skate, while Mila got to go first. It was a little less glamorous than the show in Hasetsu as none of them had costumes yet. Yuri wore the same outfit as he had for his Welcome to the Madness routine, expect he had promised to not take off the jacket this time, his hair was fully pulled back in a ponytail, there was no excessive makeup, and he hadn't stolen Viktor's expensive sunglasses either. Yuuri was wearing an old costume from a couple of seasons ago. It was white and blue with frills at both the top and the bottom, and with his hair down and no glasses, it made him look younger than he was. Mila was wearing a simply black dress she usually wore to the Russian Test skates.

They had a small audience as they performed their pieces. It consisted mostly of rinkmates, and all the coaches who worked with Yakov. Lilia had of course shown up as well, although Yuri suspected that was mostly for Yuuri's sake as his program was exactly the kind of thing she loved about skating. A balletic interpretation of piano music with beautiful athletic elements.

Yuri paid only a little attention to Mila's program, mostly interested in whether or not she would land the triple axel, and when she did, he put his headphones back on and did some warm-up exercises. Yuuri was taking it much easier as he applauded Mila for every element done well. It was amazing how much the competitive environment affected him, as he usually shut himself completely off whenever a competition began.

Yuri watched Yuuri's performance with his headphones on, knowing the program like the back of his hand at this point. He just needed to see if he landed his jumps. The triple axel was almost too easy for Yuuri - honestly, if that guy didn't think of it himself, Yuri would just ask him if would ever consider going for the quad. Whether or not Yuuri would bring that to competition would depend on his self-confidence, but Yuri just wanted to see it be done. He had only ever seen a computer-generated Viktor do it, when some sports channel had discussed the possibility of someone actually attempting it in competition one day.

The insanely difficult planned quad flip-triple toe combination was less successful, but Yuuri didn't let it bother him as he decided to not do the triple toe, and put it on the end of the quad toe instead. It was the rational back-up plan Yuuri could always use in competition and Yuri knew he had practiced that layout just as many times as he had the one he planned on using in competition. The program was almost fully developed, and it made Yuri a little nervous. His short program still had a long way to go, but he had to make the best of it.

As he passed Yuuri while entering the rink, he got a supportive 'good luck' and a little pat on the back, which somehow only made Yuri more nervous.

He took his starting position and Viktor started the music. Yuri had the choreography down, and was confident that he could do almost exactly what Viktor had shown him in practice, but it was the performance part that was difficult for him. Using the right expressions and connecting with people was not as easy as some people made it seem, but that was what Yuri needed to do. Yuri was sure that even if he popped, underrotated and fell on all his jumps, Yakov would still approve of the program, if he performed it right.

So Yuri put on a confident smile and tried his best to make eye contact with whoever was within his line of sight. He did completely blow the opening quad, popping it into a triple, but that was okay, the jumps were not his top priority right now. In competition, he was confident that he would land them, especially in short program where his stamina didn't completely fade away, so Yakov could say nothing to a popped quad toe. And Yuri was still certain that Viktor some kind of plan regarding the jumps anyway, so he wasn't likely to care either. All he could do was keep the slightly cocky smile on his face, trying to make the audience forget that he had made a mistake at all.

However, Yuri did like his jumps and put effort into making his quad sal-double toe successful (a double toe only, as he had already used his triple toe when he made that first mistake and he needed to prove that he could make last minute changes to make up for mistakes). After that, the spins.

Yuri had spent many sleepless nights, trying to figure out how on earth Chris managed to make spins the highlights of his short programs. Yuri had always been particularly fond of Chris' Sochi performance, which had gotten him silver at the games, but he could never crack the code behind Chris' spins. Maybe it was the unique positions in his sit spins, or perhaps the speed with which he did a camel spin, Yuri didn't know, but he needed to be able to highlight at least one of his spins. Viktor had choreographed two of his spins back-to-back to allow for both the step sequence and his triple axel to fit into the second half, as well as the closing combination spin, so if Yuri wanted to keep people's attention during his spins, he needed them to be perfect. The whole performance was meant to grab people's attention, but for people who weren't a fan of the sport to begin with, that was hard when you just saw a person spinning for more than ten seconds.

Yuri made his spins as damn fast as he possibly could, trying to create excitement in that way, and smirked confidently as he exited the second spin, flipping his head up as he did so to create a confident persona as he gained speed to enter the triple axel. Perhaps his focus on the performance made him mess up his speed, because he barely rotated the axel and had to fight to stay on his feet, immediately entering the upbeat, fast-paced step sequence which Viktor had made look so unbelievably easy to execute, when it was by far the hardest thing Yuri had ever attempted to do. He blamed it all on a lack of experience.

The energetic step sequence almost killed him, and the final spin was not at all up to Yuri's normal standard, but he got through it and used his last remaining energy to not collapse on the ice, wanting to at least be able to take the criticism while still standing.

"Unusual for you to pop your jumps," Yakov commented and Yuri glared at him. _Forget the damn jumps and just get to the point_. "But the performance was adequate. Not quite at Katsuki's level, but at least we have something to work with."

"Is that your cryptic way of saying I can keep my program?" Yuri spat, trying to hide the fact that he was gasping for air.

"Yes," Yakov said sternly, "But you need to work hard. Cialdini is hosting a two week summer camp in July. I think it would be beneficial if you attended."

"Ugh, I will have to endure two weeks of Chulanont? How did you ever train with him Katsudon?" Yuri turned his attention to Yuuri who was standing by the barrier with Viktor, having listened in to the conversation.

"He's a good rink mate," Yuuri shrugged, "But you will only have to endure it for a week, Phichit is coming to visit during the second week of the training camp."

"That's the best news I've heard all year," Yuri said, slightly sarcastic, but Yuuri's mischievous smile made him a little nervous.

"I hear that JJ will be there too."

"No~" Yuri whined, "Training camps are supposed to be fun! Why am I being punished?"

"I'm sure you'll have plenty of fun," Viktor smiled and Yuri hung his head in defeat. Two weeks of JJ would likely kill him before Yakov got the chance.


	2. Skating Skills

**oh boy, this got so long I decided to do five chapters instead of three, so my goal of finishing it bf chapter 21 of TRPF is definitely not going to happen, but I'll attempt to finish it before the main story instead.**

 **Also, in case you didn't notice, I changed the chapter names, so the previous one is now called "Interpretation" and since this one is called "Skating Skills", the three last chapter titles should be easy for you to figure out :D**

* * *

Yuri sank into his seat and looked out of the small plane window. Even though Celestino mainly coached in Thailand these days, the training camp took place in Detroit - at Yuuri's old training facilities. Yuuri had made sure to give Yuri a list of all the best restaurants, while Phichit had provided a list of the best entertainment places - all suited towards minors of course. Yuri hated that he couldn't fault Phichit for that, as he had (by American law) been a minor all the years he had lived there. A quick scan of the list told Yuri that he wouldn't be going to any of the places, and if Phichit or anyone else tried to invite him, he would fight his way out of it.

Spending two weeks in America was not the worst thing Yuri could think of - but it wasn't the best either. Skating aside, he had to endure Phichit for a full week. Yuri could honestly say that he had all the respect in the world for Yuuri, because if Yuri thought a week was hard, then how on earth had Yuuri lived with him for two years? It truly was a mystery to him as to how they got along so well. At least when Yuuri was sober. He imagined that Phichit and drunk Yuuri were quite the duo.

But even Phichit was preferable, hell, even desirable, in contrast to the other evil. JJ. And _he_ would be there throughout the entire camp. Yuri sank a little further down in his seat. Both Leo and Guang-Hong were attending the training camp as well - according to Yuuri they always did - and Yuri quite liked Guang-Hong. They'd met quite often in junior competitions, and had turned senior the same year. They rarely spoke, but they tended to drift towards each other, especially when they had both first turned junior and their English had been rocky at best. It had been comfortable to have someone close who was just as confused as yourself.

Another horrible thing about this training camp was that Yuri would miss the first couple of days of Yakov's summer camp. The camp itself was irrelevant, but Otabek - the one skater (other than Yuuri) that he actually liked talking to - was attending, and Yuri would be stuck in America with fucking JJ. It truly was unfair. Of course, when Yuri had told Otabek that he'd be in America, Otabek had tried to convince him that JJ wasn't' _that bad._ Yuri had promptly blocked him for the remainder of the day for such insolence.

Yuuri put on the music for his short program as the plane took off. If he had to attend this training camp, he might as well make the most of it, and as he listened to his music over and over again, never once tiring of hearing it, he began thinking about the small details he could incorporate into it to make this song his own. It was the challenge Viktor had set him, and Yuri wasn't done growing.

* * *

Yuri had been very careful to not let Phichit figure out when he was landing, because he did not need to be picked up by him. If Phichit was only giving him a ride to the hotel he would be staying at, then it would have been fine as it would have saved him the money of a cab ride, but Yuri knew Phichit. Before going to the hotel, Phichit would drag him somewhere, and then they'd run into some fans - and most of Yuri's fans were actually crazy - which they wouldn't be able to get out of ever, and Yuri just wasn't in the mood for any of that (and honestly he never was). So Yuri carefully navigated the airport by himself, making sure to keep his hood up, whenever it didn't seem suspicious, and generally avoiding getting recognized.

He managed to make it all the way to the taxi stand having only signed one autograph for a cashier who had recognized him as he was buying a cute cool tiger keychain that had caught his eye, and relaxed as soon as he was on his way to the hotel.

With half an hour to kill, he opened his phone and looked through the barrage of messages, he received as he disabled flight mode. There was one from Yakov, asking if he'd landed in Detroit yet, and Yurio send a cat emoji as a confirmation (Yakov didn't have emojis on his phone, so the square box that would appear instead was sure to confuse him). There was also a message from Yuuri asking the same question, and for him Yuri send a short video of the fading airport. He also promised to say hi to Phichit for him. From Otabek there was a cat video with the message: _for when you land in Detroit,_ because Otabek knew how little Yurio was looking forward to it. And then there was Mila who had sent him a picture of a special brand of chocolate which she wanted him to buy for her. Yuri put in his notes that he should get her a rip-off brand, because when she had last gone to Canada, she hadn't bought the candy that Yuri had requested she get for him, and Yuri was nothing if not petty and full of spite.

* * *

As it turned out, the only bliss to be found was the taxi ride, because as Yuri set foot in the hotel's lobby, the first person he saw was JJ's fiancée, Isabella.

"Yuri!" She greeted, and Yuri didn't hide his frown, "I didn't know you would be here as well!" She was always super cheerful and sociable, and with her good looks and sweet personality, Yuri would never understand why she had chosen to marry someone like JJ. She could have chosen probably anyone, and yet here she was, having made the worst mistake of her life.

"Well, I am," Yuri said and trotted past her to check in. If she was in the lobby by herself, then JJ was soon to come and if he could avoid JJ, then he would. Unfortunately, he wasn't so lucky.

"If it isn't Yuri!" JJ's voice boomed from the other end of the lobby, and Yuri had fight to not yell something at him as he was giving the receptionist his information, "Want to come to lunch with us?"

"No," Yuri growled, and then quickly thanked the startled receptionist as he got the keys.

"Well, we're going to spend the whole training camp together, so we should get to know each other better," JJ reasoned, and Yuri turned around to face him.

"I already know enough about you, thanks," he said with fake politeness in his voice, and then promptly turned around, got on an elevator, leaving behind the engaged couple.

* * *

The skaters attending the training camp were supposed to meet up at the rink at ten in the morning, and Yuri hoped that he could avoid people until then. By now he should have known better.

"Yurio!" Phichit sang as he pulled Yuri into a hug. He had barely stepped foot outside of his hotel room, so Yuri could only assume that Phichit had been waiting to ambush him.

"That's not my name," Yuri said in response, already having accepted that Phichit would keep on calling him Yurio, but it was worth a try.

"Eh? But that's so confusing," Phichit whined, "And Yurio suits you."

Yuri rolled his eyes, and wanted to retort, but Phichit took him by the wrist and dragged him along. Yuri hoped they were going to breakfast because if he was busy stuffing his face, then less conversation was required.

Phichit did drag him to breakfast and Yuri was quite happy to see that they would be eating with Leo and Guang-Hong (possibly the only sane people attending this training camp), and while Yuri was somehow forced to sit beside Phichit at their four-man table, he still only made conversation with the Chinese skater, who had always been easy to talk to.

"Do you know what we're gonna do today?" Yuri asked Guang-Hong half-way through breakfast, seeing as Yuri was the only one around the table who had never once attended Celestino's training camp.

"Oh, you don't know?" Phichit joined in and Yuri rolled his eyes.

"I didn't ask you," he said not quite as angrily as he would have had Guang-Hong not been there. The Chinese skater had a way of always soothing Yuri's temper. Perhaps that was why he liked him.

"Anyway," Guang-Hong said, answering Yuri's question, "Usually on the first day we'll do run-throughs of our programs. It doesn't have to be our new programs, but that is most beneficial if you have gotten your programs for next season. You will then discuss a goal, either with Coach Celestino or Satsuki, which you will try to reach by the end of the camp."

"He expects results within two weeks?"

"It's not like the goal will be learning a quint or something," Leo explained with a carefree laugh, "But it definitely won't be easy."

Yuri smiled a little. He liked a good challenge: "Sounds fun."

* * *

As they all gathered in the rink for their run-throughs, and were lacing up their skates, Yuri rummaged through his skatebag only to learn that he had left his gloves back in the hotel room. He turned to Guang-Hong, who was lacing up his skates beside him.

"Hey," he said softly to grab his attention, but not have too many people overhear of the small mistake he made, "Do you have an extra pair of gloves. I forgot mine at the hotel."

Guang-Hong looked through his bag, but came up empty handed. "Sorry," he whispered softly, but Yuri assured him that it was okay. He'd just skate without gloves. It wasn't a problem.

Celestino grabbed their attention as the skaters were still sat at the benches, the assistant coach, Satsuki, standing by his side with a notepad in hand.

"Good morning," Celestino greeted them, "As some of you know, we'll start the camp with a run-through of a program of your choice. After everyone has skated, there'll be free practice until one o'clock, where Satsuki and I will discuss with you individually what you should focus on during this training camp. After two weeks, we'll have another set of run-throughs to see if you have improved. Who would like to skate their short program?"

Phichit, Leo and Yuri all raised their hand and Celestino nodded, "Okay, then Phichit you will go first, since you're not technically taking part in the training camp, Leo will be second and Yuri third. Then for the free skates it will be JJ and then Guang-Hong. We'll give you a six minute warm-up before we start."

There was a muffled sound of acknowledgement from the group before they all took to the ice. There were already a couple of people on the ice as the five of them began their warm-up, so of course the pretend competition set-up wasn't super authentic, but it wasn't so crowded that they would have to be very cautious of colliding with other skaters. Yuri quickly made note of the people skating and they all seemed to fairly routined, so Yuuri assumed that they were all juniors, or maybe even novice skaters. Perhaps some of Celestino's? Regardless, Yuri decided to treat this run-through like a competition, wanting to show the best version of his short program so that he had the best chance of improving it by the end of the camp.

The warm-up was quickly over and the four of them left the ice as Phichit got ready for his run-through. Yuri wasn't entirely sure why Phichit had to go through this with them, since he was leaving in a week, but perhaps he was just here to set the tone, or have something to work on as he went to Russia. It occured to Yuri then that Phichit might be taking part in Yakov's training camp as he arrived just as it began, which meant that even if he didn't have to spent two weeks with Phichit here in Detroit, he would still see him when he got back to Russia. Great. At least he would be occupied with spending time with Yuuri, and if Yuri just spend his time with Otabek, well, it might work out after all.

Whatever the reason for Phichit skating, Yuri was secretly grateful for the opportunity to watch him in person. Yuri had only attended two competitions with Phichit, and during none of them had he watched the Thai skater live and in person, having been too focused on himself as his skate had still been coming up. But after hours and hours upon watching and learning from Phichit through videos, Yuri needed to see him skate in person to learn more about what made Phichit the performer he was.

Yuri stood next to Guang-Hong, who was already in awe at the presence Phichit had on the ice (he was a fan after all), and rested his arms on the boards, his head resting on his hands and watched intensely as Phichit began to skate. It came to no one's surprise that Phichit was re-using his _The King & The Skater _program for the Olympics. Yuuri had mentioned many times what this program meant to the Thai skater, and since Phichit was already very comfortable with the familiar program, the presentation of it was already guaranteed to be of the highest quality.

Despite the warhorse program, Yuri felt himself drawn in by Phichit from the very first movement. The charisma Phichit usually emitted somehow exploded into a cloud of confidence and showmanship of which Yuri now knew could hardly be rivalled by anyone. Yuri knew without even feeling bitter about it that he himself could never reach that level of atmospheric control that Phichit owned as he skated. Phichit easily made eye-contact with the small audience he had watching him, making sure that they were all part of the experience, almost making Yuri forget that this was a pretend competition where they were using real competitive programs until Phichit flew into the triple axel that opened the program, as if Yuri didn't feel that Phichit had enchanted him long ago, when really it had only been fifteen seconds.

The flow between the jumps, the spins, the steps and the choreographic highlights was something that Yuri could recognize and immediately remembered the short program Yuuri had skated just before Yuri had left for Detroit. Yuri didn't know if this was a trait of Celestino's students or if he had just been lucky to find such natural performers to train under him, but the fluid skating of both Phichit and Yuuri, and the way they delivered a program in such a touching way could hardly be contributed to coincidence alone. Despite Phichit's loud and sometimes annoying personality, Yuri felt himself slowly becoming a fan in the same way he had quickly fallen for Yuuri's skating during his disastrous first Grand Prix Final. Perhaps Yuri should make it a tradition to always attend this training camp, because as good of a coach as Yakov was, Celestino clearly had something in his training regime that he didn't, and Yuri wanted it too.

As enchanted as Yuri felt during Phichit's performance, he did pick up on the fact that the layout of the program has been altered slightly, making the quad in the second half part of the combination, raising the technical base value of the program to make it more competitive as he only has one quad in his repertoire. Because despite being a natural performer, Phichit was also a competitive person who knew that his chances of medaling at any competition were high, and with a higher technical ceiling, he became a bigger threat than during the previous season. It made Yuri excited to improve himself.

Yuri seemed to go through the same experience he had had with Phichit when Leo took to the ice and began his short program. Though not as skilled technically as Phichit, Leo was a different kind of beast when it came to program component scores. As Leo's program was also musical based, it would be interesting to see Leo and Phichit's battles throughout the season as their strengths and styles were both similar and distinctly different. Phichit was the more charismatic of the two, but Leo was good at highlighting the music he skated to, while giving his own unique interpretation of a well-known piece of music. Though the program was very distinctive to Leo, Yuri saw a hint of the influence Viktor had obviously had on the American. Yuri wondered briefly if it was because he had spend so many years watching Viktor skate himself that he could point it out, but though the influence was there, nothing about it looked like a Nikiforov program. Yuri quickly came to understand why both Viktor and Yuuri were such huge fans of Leo's skating.

As it became Yuri's turn to skate, he smiled confidently and got ready. He felt fully awake and energized, and since JJ was skating after him, he wanted to skate lights out and blow the audience away so that no matter what JJ did and how he skated, he simply couldn't compare to Yuri. There were gasps of surprise from the sidelines as the music began, the few spectators clearly not having anticipated this style of music, all of them likely remembering the controversy of his last exhibition piece. The high energy of the program was feeding off of Yuri's energy, but he didn't tire and the opening quad toe was almost too easy. He knew the instant he landed the jump that this might become his best showing of this program yet, and the realization only made him more pumped and he felt refreshed anew as he moved further into the program. The energy he was feeling even after the combination and the spins was very refreshing, and even as he went into the second half, he didn't feel exhausted.

Of course, the added energy made him mess up on his timing and speed for the triple axel, and he hand to put down his hand to keep from falling as he badly overrotatoed the jump. As his bare, ungloved hands touched down, he felt a sting from the cold ice for just a second until he was back on his feet. That's what he got for forgetting his gloves.

He finished his program, paying no attention to his hand and got a small applause from the skaters at the rinkside. He bowed respectfully out of habit before moving towards them. As he glided towards the barrier, he examined his hand that was now beginning to sting. The cut wasn't deep, but he had still managed to draw blood, and watched, unbothered, as a drop of blood trailed from the cut and down his palm towards his wrist. There were many specs of blood all over his hand - and even a few on his wrist - from the many times he had closed his fist, but Yuri didn't think too much of it. He had cut himself on the ice before, but found himself happy to be in Detroit instead of St. Petersburg, because, unlike Yakov or even Lilia, he was certain that Celestino wouldn't yell at him for getting injured. Even if it was just a small cut.

Yuri was quite right about Celestino as the coach upon meeting him at the barrier immediately took his hand to examine it.

"Not too bad..." he muttered, "We'll discuss your program after you've been cleaned up. Satsuki," he called for the other coach, "Can you take care of Yuri?"

Satsuki was already ahead of him, ready with a first aid kit, which made the whole thing seem much more serious than Yuri felt it was. She gestured for Yuri to follow her, and they sat down on one of the benches, still close enough to the rink for Yuri to follow the run-throughs. Yuri, of course, didn't pay much attention to JJ, much preferring to not watch him skate, but he was curious as to what his program was and kept his eyes on the Canadian before giving his attention to Satsuki who was currently cleaning all the blood specks off of his skin.

Yuri felt his soul die a little bit when it turned out that JJ's new free skate was a Romeo and Juliet program. The familiar music was more than enough for Yuri and he looked at his hand to see that the only blood left was what was coming out of his cut. That also meant that Yuri could now see the full extent of the damage. The cut extended from just below his index finger and diagonally across reaching almost all the way down to the bottom of his palm. It looked worse than it felt.

Satsuki threw the blood stained wipes away and pulled out a small bottle from the first aid kit.

"The disinfection will sting a bit," she said as if Yuri hadn't had ice cuts disinfected before, but he simply nodded and let her continue. He hissed a little as the alcohol solution came in contact with his open skin, but she finished quickly, clearly having done this many times before, and was soon bandaging his hand to keep the wound from getting infected. Of course, due to her quick first aid, by the time Yuri was all bandaged up, JJ was still not done skating.

Yuri thanked Satsuki for her help with a light bow like Yuko had taught him a couple of months ago, and returned to his place beside Guang-Hong just as JJ finished.

"How was it?" Yuri asked and Guang-Hong's face fell a little before answering.

"Unfairly good," he said and the two sighed together, before Guang-Hong replaced JJ and readied himself to skate his new free skate.

Yuri tried his very best to ignore the fact that JJ came to stand beside him, and he would probably have succeeded had JJ not begun to speak to him halfway through Guang-Hong's program.

"I have a pair of extra gloves," he mentioned and Yuri shot him a look as if to say that he wasn't interested in anything that came from him, but apparently JJ was too much of an idiot to catch up on it and still offered: "You can borrow them if you want. The might be a little big for you, but with the bandage that might be perfect… at least for your right hand."

"No thanks," Yuri growled, keeping his eyes fixed on Guang-Hong and clapping lightly when he landed his triple axel.

"Come on," JJ continued, a hint of teasing in his voice, "We still have a lot of practice left. Might as well make sure you don't injure yourself more."

"Huh?" Yuri hissed, growing more irritated and sent JJ another death stare. This time he got it.

"Joking, joking," JJ said defensively, putting up his hands as if Yuri was going to attack him. It was a tempting action to take. "But seriously, take my gloves. It's just for today."

Yuri gritted his teeth, "Fine," he said at last, mostly hoping it would resolve in JJ shutting the hell up, "lend me your dumb gloves."

Yuri expected JJ to leave and get them, but instead the asshole pulled them out from his pocket, having known that Yuri would lose the argument, and Yuri pulled them out of his grip with his good hand, not wanting to refuse at this point, because that would be accepting defeat on a whole new level. As it turned out, the gloves fit perfectly over his bandaged right hand, and was a little loose on his left, but not to the point where it was annoying.

It was apparent on JJ's face that he wasn't expecting any words of gratitude, which tempted Yuri to just say _thank you_ but before he convinced himself to do so, Guang-Hong finished his program and Celestino concluded the run-throughs, and had everyone get on the ice for practice, calling them one after the other to discuss what to work on during their training camp.

As Yuri waited for his evaluation, he practiced his triple axel, feeling relatively agitated at the fact that it had been the only element of the short program that hadn't been perfect. He had just completed his tenth axel - to perfection of course - as Celestino called him over.

"How's your hand?" He asked as Yuri skated up to him by the barrier.

"Fine," Yuri said, anxious to get something to work on.

"It seems that Viktor made you quite a program," Celestino mused, going through some notes, which Yuri couldn't see what were, "I'd say that the most important thing for you to focus on what be your skating skills. Of course, there is only so much you can do in two weeks, so here's what I'll suggest. Since your program focuses so much on speed, it is difficult for you to complete all the elements required for your step sequence. In your run-through, you would only have hit level two," Yuri frowned at this. He usually got a level four - three if he was feeling a little off. "So how about setting your goal for hitting a level three without losing any of the speed?"

"But my content is planned for a level four," Yuri protested, "Shouldn't I aim for that instead?"

"I have no doubt that you could easily skate a level four step sequence right now if I asked you to, but your program is not only very complex but is based on the high pace of it. If you focus too much on the technicalities, you will lose sight of the program. Your task is to find a balance."

Yuri wanted to protest again, but Celestino's words seemed final, and it wasn't like the season began when this training camp ended. He would complete Celestino's task no matter what.

The following hour, Yuri did multiple run-throughs of his step sequence, as well as all those boring skating exercises Yakov loved to make him do, and whenever he got tired of that, he would work on his combination, which was so much more fun.

By the end of the session, Celestino was on the ice, gathering up everyone who was still there, even skaters who weren't part of the training camp (Yuri assumed that they were juniors skating under Celestino, but he had no way of confirming it, as he wasn't willing to ask anyone). It seemed that like Yakov, Celestino was fond of skating exercises, and had everyone do them together. The difference between Celestino and Yakov, however, was the level of those exercises. Yuri always felt that he could complete Yakov's exercises with relative ease, but with Celestino he felt that he could hardly keep up.

Yuri had started in the back of the group, and from his spot, it was clear to see who had been skating with Celestino the longest. Phichit was skating like he could do these exercises in his sleep (and Yuri thought that perhaps he could actually do just that), while Leo and Guang-Hong who had trained with him pretty regularly before were also doing pretty well. While JJ seemed to also have some difficulty with the exercises, it didn't look like he was struggling like Yuri was, and it made Yuri even more determined to put his all into these, seemingly simply, exercises.

* * *

The following three days were pretty much the same. Celestino mostly made Yuri work on his basic skating, and by the end of the practice session they would all go through the same skating exercises. Yuri had kept JJ's gloves, because his own didn't really fit on his bandaged hand. It would heal soon enough though. Yuri had had a moment of thinking he should get gloves like these until he had had a minute to further inspect them - why ask JJ where he had bought them when he could just spend even more time trying to figure it out himself right? It turned out, unfortunately, that the gloves were part of JJ's own clothing brand, and the signature JJ logo on the inside of them had Yuri doing angry quad salchows for a good ten minutes. Fate sure was cruel to him.

* * *

Yuri was allowed to take the bandage off after five days, and with it he gave JJ back the gloves.

"Thanks, or whatever," Yuri said as he threw them onto JJ's lap, while the Canadian was lacing up his skates.

"You can keep them if you want," JJ offered with an annoying smile, but Yuri refused. His own gloves were perfectly fine now that his right hand wasn't bigger than usual.

Yuri sat down next to JJ - of course still with a considerable amount of distance between them - and began lacing up his skates too.

"You know people will say you're copying Viktor by skating to Romeo and Juliet?" Yuri said as he tightened his right skate.

"Viktor never skated to Romeo and Juliet," JJ replied casually.

"I meant the style. You said it's for your fiancée, right? That's exactly what Viktor did last season," Yuri knew the internet. The comparisons would begin as soon as JJ showed his new program. Everyone always compared any skaters programs to Viktor just because, and this was simply too easy of a comparison.

"That's true, but so did Katsuki, who _was_ my inspiration for the program."

"Yuuri?" Yuri looked up in question, "You got inspired by Yuuri?"

"Well, just like you, I'm a fan of his. More so than of Viktor."

"Who the hell said I was a fan of Katsudon?"

"Just assumed," JJ shrugged and gave no further explanation as he left and went on the ice for his warm-up.

* * *

The day before Phichit was to leave for Russia, he invited forced them all out to dinner. Yuri could probably have resisted by locking himself up in his room, but Phichit had promised to pay for the entire meal (likely because during his stay in Russia, he wouldn't have to pay for a thing, save the flight). Therefore, Yuri met up with the rest of the training camp squad in the lobby of the hotel.

"I can't believe you make us all go to dinner with you, and you're just on social media," Yuri said as he walked towards Phichit and Guang-Hong who were currently the only two who had arrived thus far.

"Just passing the time," Phichit smiled, "By the way, a lot of your fans are dying to know why your hand was bandaged for the past five days."

"How do they even know? I was wearing JJ's stupid gloves the entire time," Yuri said in a low growl. Honestly, did his fans have nothing better to do than stalk him?

"You may or may not have appeared in the background of a couple of my photos with said bandaged hand," Phichit said nonchalantly, "But that's a minor detail. I'm doing a Q&A and someone asked, wanna share?" Phichit said and stuck the camera right in Yuri's face, while putting an arm around him so that they were close enough to both fit into the frame. He hadn't pressed record yet, because he knew if he recorded Yuri without permission, he might lose a limb.

"Fine," Yuri said, and Phichit instantly pressed record, the footage going directly to instagram.

"So Yurio," Phichit said, still using the nickname, "What happened to your hand?" Phichit asked dramatically, as if trying to uncover, or maybe just document, a murder mystery, and Yuri eyed him skeptically before answering.

"Didn't wear gloves, ice is sharp, be careful when skating," Yuri said in a monotone voice, but Phichit of course made a face of interest as he continued with his documentary voice.

"Yuri Plisetsky, giving some solid advice to any aspiring skaters out there. Wear gloves!" And with that the recording ended and Phichit finally let go of Yuri, going back to Guang-Hong who was also updating his social media.

"I'm surprised to hear you give advice to your fans," Yuri heard JJ say and turned around to see him and Leo walking towards them.

"I'm just saying it like it is," Yuri replied, and greeted Leo. With all of them having arrived, the five of them made their way out of the hotel, following Phichit to whatever place he thought was great. From the list of restaurants Yuuri had given him before leaving, Yuri had a pretty good guess as the where they were headed.

"You could have thanked me for lending you my gloves," JJ teased and Yuri frowned, wondering how he had ended up walking with JJ at the back of the group.

"And plug your dumb brand? Don't be an idiot."

"You must have liked them to check the brand. I don't recall telling you I made them," JJ said, and Yuri could not believe his luck. How had JJ figured that out?

"What makes you think I didn't check because I hated them so much that I needed to know what never to buy myself?" Yuri shot back, but JJ just smiled at him. Yuri knew he had lost the moment he had started lying. He should have kept his mouth shut, but that was hard with JJ around.

"Come on, if you really hated them that much, you wouldn't have used them for more than a day. Maybe I'll give you a pair for your birthday."

"Fuck right off, JJ," Yuri said as he sped up, linking his arms with Guang-Hong to ensure himself some better company. As he looked back, he saw JJ looking amused as Leo fell back into step with him and struck up a conversation about some new song that had just been released.

* * *

As expected, the restaurant they were eating at was the one that, according to Yuuri, had been dubbed _the best Thai restaurant in Detroit_ by Phichit. They easily found a table that fit all of them, and Yuri snuck himself in between Guang-Hong and Phichit, sitting as far away from JJ as possible (not that it was _that far_ since they were sitting by a round table, but whatever). It turned out to be quite the pleasant evening.

"So, Yurio-" JJ addressed Yuri for the first time during their dinner, but Yuri quickly interrupted him.

"You have no right to call me that," he said and gave him a look that gave JJ no room for even arguing or protesting.

"Right, Yuri," he said, and Yuri reluctantly listened to him, "Why aren't you practicing the quad loop?"

"Huh?" Yuri snapped. Was JJ mocking him?

"Ah! Don't take this the wrong way. I just assumed that it would be right up your ally, and with the Olympics coming up-"

"And with the Olympics coming up, Yakov doesn't want me to try out new jumps," Yuri growled, more annoyed with Yakov than JJ at this point, "I'll probably go for it next season."

"Have you tried it yet?" JJ asked, sincerely curious, and Yuri found himself quite engaged in this conversation, which would be a first with JJ involved.

"A couple of times, but it's hard to get the timing right," Yuri confessed, downplaying slightly how many times he had tried and failed. He had probably tried more than a hundred times, and landed roughly three of them, but JJ still nodded in agreement.

"That's true. In the beginning you pop most of them."

"You're doing it this season?"

"I would be offended that you didn't watch my free skate during the runthrough if it wasn't because I knew you hurt yourself, but yes, I can't very well back down from it now, can I?"

Yuri frowned a little. With the loop, JJ had four different quads, Viktor also had four and was, inexplicably, working on a fifth (also the loop), and Yuuri was planning on putting a quad lutz in his free skate if he could get it consistent enough. And Yuri still only had the toe and the salchow. He was aware from Yakov's lectures, Viktor's winning streak and instance, that quads weren't everything, but Viktor and Yuuri were both strong skaters regardless of how many quads they could land. It had not been due to luck that Viktor had taken silver at Europeans last season with just a single quad in his free skate. But Yuri knew that his natural strength lay in the jumps. If he wanted to contend for that gold medal at PyeongChang, he needed to do something that could boost his score a little more.

"Hey, Yurio!" Phichit said suddenly, pulling Yuri out of his trance, "Who do you like more, Yuuri or Viktor?"

"Come again?"

"Yuuri or Viktor, choose one."

"Why?"

"For fun! Come on."

"As a skater or a person?" Yuri questioned, not that his answer was going to be different anyway.

"A skater," Phichit clarified.

"Then Katsudon."

"Yes! I vote for Yuuri too, so that's two votes," Phichit said enthusiastically, but Leo protested.

"Phichit is biased and his vote shouldn't count," he said slyly and Phichit protested until all four of them agreed that if Viktor skated the program of his life and Yuuri took a nap on the ice, then Phichit would still say Yuuri should win and that would be unfair.

"Fine, then," Phichit said defeated, "What about the rest of you?"

"I'm voting Viktor," Leo said, and Phichit frowned.

"This is why you didn't want me to vote, you traitor. I can't believe you call yourself a friend of Yuuri."

Leo chuckled, "I've always been a fan of Viktor, I mean, who else does their own choreography and makes it look so easy?"

"You say that as if you don't do the same thing," Guang-Hong pointed out, "But I'm voting Viktor too."

"Both of you are traitors," Phichit hissed, and the duo laughed.

"Well, I'm voting for Yuuri, so that ties it up," JJ commented, and Yuri smirked. _Take that, Viktor!_

"So Yuuri wins," Phichit said, and the Viktor fanclub protested again.

"It's a tie," they said in unison, "Besides, does it matter?"

"Not really," Phichit smiled and instantly forgot about the weird competition the conversation had evolved into, "I was just curious."

As Yuri had said, it was quite a pleasant evening.

* * *

The last week of the training camp went by quickly, but Yuri could feel the improvements as he skated through his step sequence once more the day before they'd do full run-throughs again. Although he knew he still had ways to go before he would have the easy skating Phichit had showcased throughout the first week, he knew he would be repeating Celestino's exercises when he got back to St. Petersburg, because he had already learned so much. When they all ended the training with the collective skating exercises, Yuri felt more relaxed than he had the first time, and he kept up better than before. It turned out Yakov had been right when he had said that going to Detroit would be beneficial.

"Nervous?" Guang-Hong asked the next day as they got ready for their run-throughs.

"Not really," Yuri muttered, but he still felt his heart beat a little faster than usual. It was the second time he was doing a run-through of his short program and had something to prove. First it was a fight to keep the program and now it was a fight to show that he had improved in the short span of two weeks. And Yuri knew that he couldn't just focus on the steps. Everything had to be excellent for him to complete the task set by Celestino.

They skated in the same order as they had at the beginning of the training camp, although in the absence of Phichit, Leo was the first to skate. Yuri had no idea what any of the others had been tasked to do, and wondered how Leo could improve his skating in just two weeks. He had seen Leo attempt a couple of quads over the course of the camp, but nothing that suggested that he would put it into the short program. Yuri was almost certain that Leo's task had been technical, since he was pretty much perfect in all other areas, so it came to no surprise that the triple axel that had been Leo's opening element before had been replaced with a triple flip. The triple axel being moved to the second half.

As Leo finished an almost clean short program (there had been a small mistake on the combination), Yuri got ready, wanting to give both a clean performance and show his (hopefully) improved skating skills. There was some cheering at the boards as Yuri took his starting position, and it made him smile as the music began and he got into character.

Yuri knew that the task had been to improve the step sequence, but skating skills were applied all the time, and Yuri was eager to show off everything that he had learned. The deeper edges helped generate speed, and Yuri already felt more comfortable with the fast paced program than he had when he had arrived. The two quads and the spins were as easy as they had been the first time, but Yuri was feeling a little anxious about the triple axel, not wanting to make a mistake like he had last time. He sacrificed a bit of the transitions Viktor had so carefully choreographed for him, making sure that the triple axel would be the best it could and landed it without issue, before moving onto the everso important step sequence.

Yuri knew that he needed to just trust the exercises he had been doing for the last two weeks, because if thought too much about it, then he would inevitable lose some his speed and that would mean failing the task. So Yuri trusted the many hours of pure skating he had done with Celestino, and simply let the flow of the program guide him, as he kept up with the tempo of the music. As the sequence came to an end and he entered his final spin, Yuri honestly had no idea how it had gone, but he sure had felt good while doing it. He finished his program and heard a small round of applause from his fellow skaters, and made a little show out of bowing to them as he left the ice.

Celestino didn't give them any feedback until the Guang-Hong had finished his run-through, but as it turned out, they had all passed with flying colors. Yuri had still not managed to gain a level four on the step sequence, but he had gotten the level three Celestino had requested without sacrificing the essence of the program, and Yuri called it a victory. He still had until September before his first competition and by that time, he could definitely get to level four without sacrificing any part of his performance.

Although the run-throughs were over, they still had a whole day left of practice and Yuri memorized all the skating exercises they did at the end of the day to take with him back to St. Petersburg. Perhaps he could get Yuuri to skate them with him when they got back.

All in all, Yuri could count the two weeks as successful.

* * *

 **alternative chapter title: social skills**


	3. Composition

The first thing Yuri did upon returning to Russia was going to the love couple's apartment. The likelihood of them being home at this time was small, which was perfect for Yuri. He wasn't visiting for them, but for Potya who had been with them while he had been in Detroit. Without Yuri, Potya would be bored and lonely, but his feline companion was very fond of Makkachin, so Yuuri and Viktor had agreed to take care of him. They had gotten used to his company anyway, and Yuri knew that they were both great friends to all animals.

With the amount of time Yuri spent at their apartment, he obviously had a key and was quickly inside, dropping suitcases, bags, his jacket and shoes in the hallway to search for Potya. He quickly found him napping on Yuri's bed with Makkachin, and Yuri sat down on the edge of the bed, careful not to disturb them and ran his fingers through Potya's fur. If Makkachin was home, then it probably wouldn't be long before someone else got home too, but Yuri wasn't in a hurry to leave - rather, after his long flight he was getting a little tired. Yuri snuggled into the bed with them for a short nap.

* * *

"Yurio. Yurio~"

Yuri slowly opened his eyes to find Yuuri hovering over him.

"Huh?" He answered groggily and slowly oriented himself, finding that although Makkachin had left the room, Potya was still snuggled up to him even if he had woken before Yuri.

"You shouldn't be sleeping this late," Katsudon nagged and Yurio fumbled around looking for his phone to check the time. Turned out he had slept for almost four hours. "Help out with dinner," Katsudon demanded as he left the room, leaving Yuri no time to argue, as he stumbled out of bed, trying to blink the sleep out of his eyes.

* * *

Yuri would easily admit to having missed Yuuri's cooking while in Detroit. It was warm and familiar, and it made Yuri feel at home in a city he had always viewed as temporary. Yuri wouldn't say that Yuuri's cooking was the only thing that made him visit so often, and stay for as long as he usually did, but it certainly was a huge factor in why he loved visiting. And Yuuri knew that too, seeing as he always made Yuri's favorite meals when he was having a rough day, or, like now, was returning from some place that did not have Yuuri's cooking readily available.

"Where's Phichit?" Yuri asked after a while, being more awake now that his hands were moving. He had expected the two of them to be joined by the hip while Phichit was visiting.

"He's still at the rink training with Yakov. He'll probably arrive with the others," Yuuri said nonchalantly, but Yuri pondered that statement for a second.

"Others?" He questioned. Were they inviting more of Team Yakov? It seemed unlikely.

"Viktor and Chris."

"Chris is here?" Yuri asked perplexed, feeling like he had either missed something, or someone, probably Viktor, had forgotten to inform him.

"We didn't mention?" Yuuri asked with a small laugh in his voice, "He'll be leaving soon though, to attend an ice show in Japan."

"And yet, you're staying here?" Yuri teased as Yuuri had turned down many offers to attend shows in Japan in favor of training here in St. Petersburg.

"Just for three weeks," Yuuri shrugged, apparently having made plans to actually go to Japan, while Yuri hadn't been here.

"Let me invite Otabek," Yuri said, changing the topic slightly. If they were having lots of people over, there was no harm in inviting one more person, whom Yuri wouldn't find a chore to talk to.

"Sure," Yuuri nodded, "Go ahead."

* * *

Yuri was off to practice before even Viktor got the chance to leave, and he arrived at the rink before almost everyone else. Yakov's training camp was officially beginning in an hour, and Yuri wanted to take advantage of the mostly empty rink before that. He would of course stay when they arrived, wanting to have the chance to practice with Phichit and Yuuri both, as well as Otabek. Celestino's training methods had taught him the importance of the people around him, and while the rink was brimming with talent of all sorts, it was the perfect chance for Yuri to expand and polish his skills.

"It's unusual for you to be here so early," Yakov said from the rinkside. Yuri didn't answer him as he went through his warm-up, "You're rushing less." He commented after a while, "It was the right decision to send you to Celestino." Yuri still kept his mouth shut, though he obviously agreed. He had never imagined that he could work well with a coach that wasn't Yakov, someone who wasn't tough and stern, and while he couldn't see himself leaving for another coach, he was glad to know that he had options, and people to go to when he needed a change, even if only for a while. Of course, he had been working with Viktor a lot lately, but it was mostly as a choreographer, and Viktor still had a long way to go before he could call himself a proper coach. Yuri could tell that much by himself. Though perhaps, someday, Viktor could become someone Yuri could learn from as more than just a skater. It was a fun thought to entertain.

After half an hour of ice time, Yakov put on Yuri's short program music, and Yuri barely had time to shake his head before his body moved on instinct, beginning a full run-through of his program. Yakov's response as Yuri finished up was not exactly a standing ovation, but at least he wasn't frowning.

"I see," he said, "Well, we still need to do something about the jumping passes. With those transitions you won't be getting scores that can compete with Vitya or Katsuki."

Yuri nodded in agreement, but remembered how Viktor had more or less glossed over the jumps as he had taught him the choreography.

"I think Viktor wants to rearrange the jumps," he said, "It doesn't feel like this is the final layout, or at least, Viktor made it sound that way."

Yakov looked in thought for a moment, "Well, it is peculiar," he said, "It doesn't exactly make sense for your combination to be the second jumping pass, when it's not in the second half, but the axel is. It would make more sense to have the axel first and then put the quad toe in the second half, both for points and to have an insurance for the combination."

Yuri had had the same thought. It made sense to put the salchow in combination as it was stronger of his two quads, but it was a quad combination nonetheless, and unless Yuri was putting the whole combination in the second half, it wouldn't make much sense to have it after the toe. It seemed illogical, and Yuri found it hard to see how it would interfere with the composition of the program if they were to change it. Especially since Viktor hadn't put any effort into really incorporate the jumps into the programs as he was usually very strict about doing. He only had a little over a month left until the Russian test skates and after that the season would really begin. If he were to prepare properly for the Olympics, he needed Viktor to help him finish up the rest of the program.

Slowly, other skaters began filling the rink, and Yuri tuned his own training down a little to observe the others. He was especially focused on Yuuri, whom he had never paid that close attention to in practice (always trying to one up him rather than learn from him) and looked at the way he skated, the way he generated speed and power from simply movements and the ease with which he performed difficult steps and turns. Yuri had always thought that Yuuri had just been talented, but perhaps his skills came from the foundation which Celestino had taught him. Slowly, however, Yuri's eyes moved to center ice where Chris was going through some spins. Yuri was still unsure of why he was here and whether he was participating in the training camp, but it seemed like he was merely using the rink to practice rather than being here for Yakov's tutelage.

It didn't take long for Chris to notice his staring.

"See anything you like?" He asked slyly and Yuri automatically made a face of disgust.

"Fuck off," he said, but then quickly reconsidered, "Can you teach me that?"

"The spin?"

"I don't understand how you accelerate that much mid-spin," Yuri admitted, knowing that if there was anyone who could teach him more about spins, it would be Chris. Yuri was flexible and had an excellent control over his body which helped him in staying centered and never losing speed, but Chris could do things he couldn't, and Yuri wanted to learn.

"Hm~" Chris pretended to consider the request, but then smiled at him, "As a fellow cat lover, I will help you."

The whole process was a lot harder than Yuri had first anticipated, and when it came time to end the practice session, he didn't feel like he had made much progress at all. However, Chris, and Viktor who had quickly made himself involved with the whole thing, had encouraged him to continue practicing it. But Yuri had an agenda before the training session ended, and it turned out that he didn't even need to ask anyone, because he quickly found Yuuri and Phichit skating in perfect synchronicity, and Yuri didn't ask them before he quickly joined them in their exercises. The pair never commented on his presence.

"Will you sleep over?" Viktor asked as they all finally began leaving the ice, and Yuri shook his head.

"No," he said, a little disappointed as he knew there were still plenty of leftovers from yesterday's dinner, "Lilia wants to go over the free skate, so I'll have to go home. I'll come tomorrow."

"Tomorrow," Viktor repeated and Yuri looked at him in question, "Come to the rink two hours early."

"It's not even open then," Yuri deadpanned, but Viktor simply winked at him before he left to catch up with Yuuri.

"Make sure to be on time," he simply called and Yuri decided not to think about it until tomorrow.

* * *

 _O: He probably wants to go over the sp_

 _Y: He could do that at anytime though? Why do I have to get up at five for that?_

 _O: -_-_

 _Y: Good answer_

* * *

"Um..." Yuri looked around the rink only to find that they were truly alone. Yuri wasn't even sure how Viktor had gotten in, but he had decided to not question that part. It did feel a little weird to have the rink to themselves, a silence falling when neither of them spoke, not even the sound of blades on ice filling the empty space.

"You probably wondered why I brought you here," Viktor began, making it seem like he was quoting some movie.

"For training, I hope," Yuri answered, not wanting to amuse Viktor in the slightest by playing along.

"Not just training," Viktor said and glided a little closer, his index finger pointing up as if he was giving a lecture, "Jump training."

Yuri's face fell a little. There were other things he'd rather have Viktor teach him. Jumps he could learn from Yakov who had both experience and credentials to his name.

"I'm not interested in a quad flip, old man," he said bluntly and Viktor smirked before he began wagging his finger back and forth in denial.

"You are still some years away from a quad flip, me dear student," Viktor said and began skating, "But what I want to teach you is this," Viktor sped up and then, right in front of Yuri, landed a quad loop.

"Yakov already said no, though," Yuri reminded him, because he was not as dumb as to think that he could add it without Yakov's approval and guidance.

"Which is why we will practice it in secret," Viktor explained casually, "Your quad loop is stable enough for you to do it safely out of harness, so we'll just be doing the fine-tuning."

"Are you crazy?"

"Probably."

Yuri sighed, "Okay, then," He didn't necessarily trust Viktor in this, but he did trust in himself to be able to master the jump, and if he could have it very stable by the Olympics, then it was worth the risk, "Do we have a deadline?" It was always important that have a goal, because if it was still very unreliable, perhaps around the time the Finals came about, then that's when they would need to start thinking about other layouts of the program. Of course, Yuri would need to put the loop into his free skate as well if he really wanted a shot at the higher scores, but that was all in due time. For now, he just needed to get the jump under control.

"By the end of August, your success rate should be at least fifty percent."

"Fifty?!" Yuri exclaimed. Right now, Yuri could land roughly one in fifty attempts, and in one month he would need that number to jump up to twenty-five. At least. That was ridiculous.

"If you don't think you can do it, then we won't try at all."

"I can do it!" Yuri said without hesitation, although his mind was racing. Viktor had been practicing the quad loop for almost four years, and hadn't even shown it publically until about two years into training it. Even his stupid quad flip had taken him two years to master - three years if one were to count the ups and downs of Viktor's first season attempting it. And Yuri didn't even have a trial season to get this jump under control. He had one year of trying it out a couple of times when he was in good condition, and half a season of trial and error before the Olympics which were less than a year away. This was all levels of crazy, but he had to do it. Yuri knew that if he were to ever catch up to Yuuri, then this was the only way to do it. He knew it would take years and years of training to reach the pure skating skills Yuuri possessed and therefore, the only way for him to improve in a rapid pace would be the technical content. He didn't have a choice.

"Very well," Viktor said, completely in coach mode at this point, and he skated to the barrier to grab a notebook which he handed to Yuri, "This will be your short program layout."

Yuri quickly skimmed through it, looking for the jump order. _4Lo / 4S+3Lo / 3A._

"Quad sal-triple loop?" Yuri questioned. It wasn't just the solo quad they were changing?

"You've done loop combinations before," Viktor reasoned, but Yuri shook his head.

"Never after a quad."

"Of course not," Viktor smiled devilishly, "No one has. That's why you will be the first."

"Do you want to lose or something?" Yuri asked perplexed, because this layout would put his base value above Viktor's, and based on last season, Yuri was beginning to become the more consistent of the two.

"Don't get arrogant," Viktor chimed, "If you can't do at least this much, you won't be able to beat me."

"Keep telling yourself that and teach me."

* * *

Over the next week, Yuri kept meeting Viktor for secret practice in the early hours of the morning, and then proceeded to train with whoever was at the rink. He trained spins with Chris until he eventually had to go to Japan. He did jump practice with Otabek, and skating exercises with the Detroit duo. It was all very exhausting and Yuri sometimes envied Viktor who could afford to rest in between practice sessions to coach Yuuri, but it was also extremely rewarding. On the last day of Yakov's training camp, both Viktor and Yakov allowed Yuri to take the day off to hang out with Otabek before he went home to Kazakhstan.

* * *

"It doesn't seem like a good idea to practice a new quad without Yakov knowing," Otabek mentioned over lunch and Yuri scowled.

"I know, but Yakov would never agree to it. If I can show him that the loop is a reliable jump before the test skates, then perhaps he'll let me use it. At least that's what Viktor is betting on."

"Well, if anyone can do it, it's you," Otabek said with confidence, and Yuri smiled.

* * *

It was two weeks before the test skates that when Yuri arrived at the rink for his secret quad loop practice, he was met with Yakov and not Viktor. It wasn't that Viktor wasn't there, but he looked like he had just received the lecture of his life, and Yuri didn't need to think twice before knowing that they had been caught.

"How did you even find out?!" Yuri question bewildered. Even if Yakov knew they had been training, there had been no way of knowing that they were doing loop practice. For all he knew, Viktor could have been polishing the short program with him.

"Katsuki told me."

"Huh?!" Yuri growled and turned to Viktor in anger, "This is your fault! Katsudon can't keep secrets!"

"I didn't tell him," Viktor protested immediately, but then added in a whisper, "At first."

"Ugh," Yuri groaned and left the rink to find that traitorous tattletale.

* * *

"I can't believe you sold us out!" Yuri slammed the apartment door open, making Makkachin jump, while Yuuri continued to calmly drink his tea.

"You would have gotten hurt," Yuuri replied calmly, eyeing Yuri with a slight look of disapproval, but seeming otherwise removed and indifferent to the situation.

"We had it under control," Viktor chimed in, coming through the door behind Yuri, but Yuuri just shot him the I-know-better look and shut them both up.

"Listen," he said, still very calm, which freaked Yuri out slightly, "I support you learning the loop, but Viktor is no jump coach."

"Hey!"

"It's true, gorgeous, and you know it. Yakov has agreed to allow you to continue practice under his guidance, and you can put it in your programs, if, and only if, you land it at the test skates. Those are the conditions," Yuuri said diplomatically, and Yuri considered for a short while, trying to figure out if there was a catch anywhere in those conditions.

"Short and free?" He asked, wanting to make absolutely certain.

"Yes."

Okay, Yuri thought, it didn't change too much. Of course, Viktor's condition had been easier to clear, since he had only asked for a fifty percent success rate which would have meant that he would only have needed to land one of the two jump. Now he needed to land both of them. It put a little more pressure on him, but he had been making a lot of progress. Although Yuri could agree that Viktor was not the best at teaching jumps, he was quite reliable when it came to the finer details, and Yuri had gone from popping basically all of his attempts to actually getting the rotations, but then either falling or otherwise messing up the landing. Currently, his success rate was at roughly ten percent. Fifteen on a good day. It seemed unrealistic to meet Yakov's conditions, but Yuri had no choice but to go for it.

"How come you don't have any conditions like that for the lutz?" Yuri asked, still upset with Yuuri, although it seemed to maybe have worked out. Perhaps Yuuri was the one to have persuaded Yakov to let him continue training it.

"Because I've been practicing the quad lutz since you began skating in juniors," Yuuri said calmly, going back to drinking his tea.

"Tch, unfair."

"Not at all."

* * *

"I hate to admit that you did a good job," Yakov told Viktor the next day, when Yuri began drilling quad loops so that Yakov could get an idea of his consistency.

"Told you," Viktor pouted, clearly offended that Yakov didn't trust in his coaching abilities more, although Yuri was kind of on Yakov's side in this. If Yuri hadn't been as good as he was, Viktor wouldn't have gotten anywhere.

"Let's do a run-through," Yakov said, "I assume you've been working on the program as well?"

"Of course," Viktor said, still pouting, and he went to put on the music, while Yuri mentally prepared himself for yet another run-through of his short program. All the run-throughs were starting to wear him down, especially with all the things Viktor had begun to add to the short program. Yuri had thought that all that was left were the jumps and the transitions into and out of those jumps, but of course Viktor Nikiforov didn't stop there. At this point, his short program was more taxing than his free skate, though it was only a matter of time before Lilia also began adding things to that.

Yuri's goal for the run-through was to not pop the loop. If he popped it, Yakov would probably give up on him before they had even begun practicing properly. So, when the jump came up, Yuri willed all his power into getting the rotations, but ended up having to step out of the landing. Still. He got round. And with that off his back, he could safely continue on with the program. Though he felt a little tired, he went for the combination with as much power as usual, and landed the quad salchow-triple loop that Viktor had also drilled into him. And just as Yuri was about to enter his first spin, someone cut the music.

"What the hell! Was that?!" Yakov roared from the rinkside, and Yuri looked to him, and then to Viktor, who looked just as taken aback as he felt.

"What?" Viktor said dumbfounded, and Yakov took a step closer to him, while Viktor quickly began backing away.

"That combination!" Yakov hissed, and it suddenly occurred to Yuri that, no, this had never been a point of discussion, and maybe someone should have filled Yakov in.

"Why are you complaining?" Viktor suddenly snapped, and stopped backing away from Yakov, "It's new, groundbreaking and incredibly consistent! Even if he popped the loop in the beginning, he can always change it to a triple toe instead! I've thought this through!"

"Have you? Truly?! Because you of all people should know that edge jumps are more prone to being popped than toe jumps, and in the short program, popping a jump could mean the difference between first and tenth place!"

"But Yurio's edge jumps are amazing, and by the Olympics he'll have a great shot at the podium. He needs the extra points from the loop to catch up the more experienced skaters!"

"You're adding too much at once! You can't force progress!"

"He's ready for it!"

"The season starts in less than a month, and his success rate with the loop isn't anywhere near fifty percent! He should focus on one thing at once!"

Yuri contemplated jumping in, but until it seemed like Viktor would give in, which would probably take a couple of days, he didn't want to waste his energy. He decided to go to Lilia's studio to work on his free skate instead.

* * *

 _O: Are they still fighting?_

 _Y: Yup._

 _O: It's been three days._

 _Y: Yeah, well, they've been fighting longer before._

 _O: -_-_

* * *

"Can't you do something?"

"Convincing Yakov to let you continue doing the quad loop was hard enough. I don't really want to get more involved," Yuuri shrugged and folded another shirt to neatly put in his suitcase, packing for his flight tomorrow, "Have you tried to convince Lilia?"

"Why would I do that?" Yuri scoffed, "She choreographs. She doesn't exactly coach."

"True," Yuuri agreed, "But she's also happens to be the only one who can make Yakov bend to her will."

"That's a good point."

* * *

Turned out that convincing Lilia to let him do crazy jumps was very easy, because difficult things were, as she said, beautiful, and she too would like for him to put a quad loop in the free skate.

"Why are you against it?" Lilia asked Yakov that evening at dinner, and Yuri ate his food slowly to observe the battle that was about to occur.

"Because it will do more bad than good."

"It sounds to me like you are underestimating your student. He is the Grand Prix Final champion, is he not?"

"Yes, but-"

"And a world record holder?"

"Yes, however-"

"So why are you holding him back?"

"I am not-"

"If you won't let him challenge himself and evolve, he'll never get anywhere. Isn't that why you let Vitya learn the flip? To push the sport even though he could win without it?"

Yuri looked at Yakov, who was struggling to find the words, and slowly giving into Lilia's argument and her stubborn will. Yuri made a note to go to her more often when he disagreed with Yakov.

"Fine," Yakov gave up and threw his hands in the air, "But the condition stands. You have to land the jumps at the test skates. The combination included. If you fail anyone of the jump passes, we'll discuss which to focus on for the Games."

"Don't worry about that," Yuri said confidently, "I'll land them."


End file.
